Tulane improves college sustainability grade

Tulane’s grade on the College Sustainability Report Card improved from a C+ to a B this year.

The country’s grades improved overall, with the number of schools earning a B- or better increasing from 38 to 53 percent. The South’s grades, however, remain slightly lower than the rest of the country’s. Of the 26 schools that received an overall grade of A- or higher, only one is a school in the Southeast, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said Lea Lupkin, spokesperson for the Sustainable Endowments Institute, the organization that released the report.

“The South is slightly behind the curve,” Lupkin said.

Though Tulane has reduced its greenhouse emissions, Tulane does not purchase or generate renewable energy. Unlike schools in places like California, Tulane cannot purchase renewable energy through its utility, said Liz Davey, environmental coordinator for the Office of Environmental Affairs. People in the area, however, are looking into solar photovoltaics, solar hot water, geothermal and cooling from the river as sources for energy.

“There are a number of different options,” Davey said. “We just haven’t gotten to the point of, as a university, figuring out the best direction to go.”

The College Sustainability Report Card assigns nine category grades for each institution, translated into a single letter grade. Tulane received a C in the green building category. Though Tulane is pursuing two Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified buildings, the report evaluates schools based on the square footage that is LEED certified.

“One school might only have one LEED-certified building, but it’s their Student Union,” Lupken said. “Others might have three that are small dorms and don’t represent much building space.”

Dinwiddie and Resident College Two, Tulane’s new dorm, are pursuing LEED certification. Dinwiddie will have rooms for recycling and a shower to encourage people to walk and bike as part of its pursuit for LEED certification.

“We get credits for reusing and preserving parts of the building, so it’s going to be a really neat project because the historic preservation and being green go along together,” Davey said. “They’re making a big effort to repair floors, repair plaster, salvage doors and reinstall them. I think it’s really going to be wonderful.”

Davey said that New Orleans’ efforts in sustainability affect those of Tulane.

“We have some economic incentives now in Louisiana for installing solar, particularly for homeowners,” Davey said. “We have a number of people looking at how that could possibly apply to the university, so that’s one of the big things we need to do to improve our grade. I think it’s a great challenge for the whole university community to help figure out the best direction to go for our particular place, New Orleans.”

Three of the report’s nine categories involve Tulane’s endowment. Tulane received an A in endowment practices, a B in shareholder management and a C in endowment transparency.

“Endowments in general and endowment investment and shareholder engagement is important,” Lupken said. “They’re an explanation of the university’s financial values and priorities.”

While Tulane makes its proxy resolutions open to the public, only trustees and senior administrators can see its endowment’s holdings, Lupken said.

“When an endowment holds stock in a company, you have a vote on any shareholder resolution,” Lupken said. “The reason the number of shares is important is because if you have 1,000 shares in a company, you have much more say than if you have five shares in a company.”

Director of Investments Sam Masoudi said that Tulane recently decided to make its proxy resolutions and asset allocation available to the public.

“We thought it would be helpful for everyone to have more insight into what we’re doing, and the report card encouraged us to do that with additional incentive for more transparency, so the public will have a better idea of what we’re doing,” Masoudi said.
Masoudi said that Tulane will continue to become more transparent with its endowments.
“I think there’s a lot of transparency,” Masoudi said. “The board is very involved with a lot of talented and knowledgeable people, so there’s a great checks and balances system and oversight as it is, but this is one way to see where the endowments [are being used].”
The Office of Environmental Affairs is recruiting students for EcoReps, a program in which students can suggest sustainability improvements throughout campus.

“We would like some suggestions from residence halls, but then just in general from different parts of campus,” Davey said.